# Getting into Brewing...



## TheSmokingHiker (Jan 11, 2005)

Today, I bought all the things I need to start brewing. I am going to do John Bull Brown Ale, I am deviating from the process a little bit in order to make it more like a Nut Brown Ale. A friend of mine will be joining me. I figured that I will start with the kits, and as I get the process down better, I will move to loose ingredients. Does anyone have any particular things to say about this specific brand/ale?


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## altbier (Feb 20, 2005)

It will make a good beer. Add some brown sugar to help move it to a nutbrown ale recipe, go check out brewboard.com.

make sure all your equipment is very clean, especially the fermenting bucket. make sure all bottles and caps are clean when bottling time comes.

welcome to a wonderful hobby!

Other nice kits which i make occasionally when i dont want to do a full mash is true brew.


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## Nely (Nov 11, 2004)

I will be getting into brewing very shortly, some financial issues right now are holding me back from buying the equipment to start, but i have done a lot of reading and got help from a fellow gorilla here with some of my dumbash questions. The forum Altbier suggested is a great resource of information. I'm pretty much convinced to try all-grain from the begining. Here are some links that have good info. Good luck.
http://www.homebrew.com/index.shtml
http://www.brewing.schmidt-house.com/
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/index.html This guy is very respected in the homebrewing world, he is to homebrew what Min Ron Nee is to cigars.


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## Mr. Pink (Oct 22, 2005)

Watch the pot closely if you're new to this. You won't believe how sticky the wort is if you get it all over everything. I know from experience never to leave the room during the boil. Add any hops slowly to help avoid this too. Hope you enjoy yourself. I did home brewing for about a year then graduated to a brew-on-premises place so I could make 15 Gal at a time. Lean heavily to Bocks and Porters.


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2005)

I love beer and beer made by my hands can not be beat. Brewing is an adventure. Sometimes things go right and sometimes not so right but remember as the great Charlie Papazian would say "relax and have a homebrew" it all works out in the wash.

good luck and happy brewing :al :al :al


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## D. Generate (Jul 1, 2004)

You won't regret it. It's an incredibly fun hobby to have. And it pays off in beer to drink!

I've never tried one of those kits, but it sounds like you've gotten some good advice. There are forums like CS for brewing and you got a couple links to them already. You'll have a great time and make beer better than 90% of what you'll find at the store.


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## Warhorse545 (Oct 16, 2005)

John Bull was prob the first kit brew I made. Not a bad one at all. Only problem I had was the boiling of it and having the apartment security swing by to see what the smell was.  After promising him a few bottles of it there was not a problem. Make sure everything is sterile not just clean, and have fun with it. Lots of fun.


Stacey


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## Funnymantrip (Oct 28, 2004)

Good luck. If you can boil water, you can make beer. If you can boil water without having it overflow the pot, make a mess in your kitchen, start a fire and burn down your house; you can make really good beer.


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## TheSmokingHiker (Jan 11, 2005)

Funnymantrip said:


> If you can boil water without having it overflow the pot, make a mess in your kitchen, start a fire and burn down your house; you can make really good beer.


Best advice by far!!!


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## altbier (Feb 20, 2005)

By what you Pm'd me, your beer should be around 4%. Good luck!


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## TideRoll (Nov 7, 2005)

I used the "kit" from Mr. Beer. They made it pretty difficult to screw it up if you just kept everything clean and could read. After that, I went with a different brew container, went ahead and got a capper, and experimented with different styles, sugar types, etc.. In my experience most of the pre-made mixes, whether they were hearty or light, came out better than most beers you could get at the supermarket, and at a fraction of the cost. I thought about making me a kegerator, but never got around to it, and I never did get to the point of making my own wort from scratch. 

The only batch I ever made that I didn't like was a smokey ale. I don't know if it was something I did or a bad mix or a mix that tasted the way it was meant to but still sucked, but it was the pits. I mean I couldn't give that crap away. It tasted like someone had ran watery beer through the coals from a campfire. I had six gallons of that mess and it took more than a year for me to use it all in baste for grilling meat. It wasn't that bad to soak chicken or pork in, and I would suspect it would be a nice beer to use for beer can chicken had I done that back then, but other than that, it was just plain bad.

Oh, well. Ninja Vanish has my setup now. I'm hoping he runs a batch out soon and shoots me a six pack or so. Hint, hint.


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